Although I was never an uber fan of The Evil Dead, this Ash vs. Evil Dead was a fun series bringing back fan favorite Bruce Campbell that made him a fanboy household name and Campbell is in his element. For whatever reason it was cancelled after only three seasons but those were hella entertaining.

Lionsgate provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.

THE SERIES — 4.0/5

Bruce Campbell reprises his “Evil Dead” film role as heroic, chainsaw-handed monster fighter Ash Williams, now an aging lothario who has successfully avoided responsibility, maturity and heinous villains for the past 30 years. Constantly peering over his shoulder, Ash somehow knew that the Evil Dead would return for him. That day arrives when Ash commits an act of carelessness, unleashing a Deadite plague that threatens to destroy mankind. Co-starring in the half-hour series are Lucy Lawless as mysterious Ruby; Ray Santiago as Ash’s loyal sidekick, Pablo Simon Bolivar; and Dana DeLorenzo as moody wild child Kelly Maxwell.

Quick Hit Review: I’ve never been a big fan of The Evil Dead though enjoyed the series for what it was and do love Bruce Campbell and his ability to both mug for the camera and yet still deliver a great, often endearing, performance (see: Bubba Ho-Tep). Ash vs. Evil Dead was a well done and funny series that quenched the thirst for fans of the franchise, nicely blending horror and comedy. Campbell for his part was wonderful and surrounded himself with a nice supporting cast, no less than Xena herself, Lucy Lawless, a worthy adversary to Campbell’s Ash.

It’s unfortunate Ash vs. Evil Dead only lasted three seasons but what a great short run it was. Kind of surprising that a Netflix or Amazon didn’t pick it up from Starz…

SPECIAL FEATURES – 3.75/5

No slip cover with this and the six discs, which are identical to the individual releases, are housed in an HD Keep Case. Below is a rundown of the features.

SEASON 1 contains three featurettes: Inside the World of Ash (15:49), How to Kill a Deadite (2:31) and Best of Ash (1:27) and Commentaries on every episode with the cast and crew including Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell, Dana DeLorenzo, Ray Santiago and Lucy Lawless amongst others.

SEASON 2 has several featurettes: First Look (2:17) at the season, Inside the World of Ash vs Evil Dead breaking down all 10 episodes, Up Your Ash (2:22), Women Who Kick Ash (2:08), Puppets Are Cute (1:09), Dawn of the Spawn (1:22), Bringing Heniretta Back (1:35), The Delta (2:13), How to Kill a Deadite (2:18) and Fatality Mash-Up (0:49). There are also Commentaries on several episodes featuring Campbell, Lawless, Santiago, DeLorenzo and others.

SEASON 3 only has a few featurettes including a Season Overview (2:48), Inside the World of Ash vs. Evil Dead vignettes and Commentaries on all 10 episodes with Campbell, Arielle Carver-O’Neill, Lawless, DeLorenzo, Santiago and various crew members.

VIDEO – 4.25/5

Each episode of Ash vs. Evil Dead is presented in the originally televised 1.78 widescreen aspect ratio and a 1080p high-definition transfer. There’s a good balance considering the more, and sometimes goofy, comedic nature of the show mixed in with darker aspects where you get both bright colors with stark black levels.

AUDIO – 4.5/5

Also on every episode are strong Dolby TrueHD 7.1 tracks which do sound great providing crisp and clear dialogue levels and some good depth making usage of the front and rear channels for Ash and company’s epic battle against the demons.

OVERALL – 4.25/5

Although I was never an uber fan of The Evil Dead, this Ash vs. Evil Dead was a fun series bringing back fan favorite Bruce Campbell that made him a fanboy household name and Campbell is in his element. For whatever reason, likely low viewership, was cancelled after only three seasons but those were hella entertaining. This “Complete Collection” from Lionsgate is a re-packaged using the same discs but with a low SRP, worth picking up if you already didn’t have the individual season sets.

Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.